


Sealed With a Kiss

by passing-fanciful (kageygirl)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Episode Tag, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 01:51:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2795408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kageygirl/pseuds/passing-fanciful
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma put back a little more than she meant to.  </p>
<p>Spoilers for "Heroes and Villains."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sealed With a Kiss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wtvoc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wtvoc/gifts).



> [this-too-too-sullied-flesh](http://this-too-too-sullied-flesh.tumblr.com/) wanted this, and who am I to refuse someone who's hopped up on pain meds?

At first, he takes no notice of it, reveling as he is in being able to feel _anything_ and _everything_ again. His heart pounds when his Swan sways near to him, but it always has, and there's nothing like looking Death in the eye to send the blood thundering through a man's veins.

But a few days pass uneventfully (for Storybrooke, at least), and then a week, and the feeling does not diminish. Instead, it intensifies; when he gathers her close for a quiet moment in her office, she sets her hand above his eager heart, and warmth blooms in his chest, a heat so sudden and so unexpected that he twitches in her arms, his breath stuttering.

"What is is?" she asks, searching his eyes with an intensity that speaks of past pains, both remote and recent.

He wants to reassure her--it's not an unpleasant feeling, merely a surprising one--but he's loath to placate her with empty words; it hasn't escaped him that keeping things from her has proven time and again to be a disastrous course of action.

So he smiles, but does not divert her. "It seems your touch is quite--affecting, love," he says, and her delicate brows draw together in a frown.

"You're not just being poetic, are you?" she says, and he shakes his head.

"Indeed not," he says, and she stares at his chest, her face troubled.

Even through three layers of clothing, he can feel her fingers flex over his heart.

Then she takes his hand and starts for the door, determination in her stride. Dave begins to stand, but stops; whatever he sees in her face is enough to keep him at his desk, though his face is lined by questions unasked.

* * *

She brings him to the mansion on the bluffs (a place he'd be happy never to see again), and her boots echo through a tortuous course worthy of a pirate before they reach a secret room where the former Evil Queen is bent in study.

Regina frowns at the both of them. "What is this, a field trip?"

"His heart," Emma says without preamble, a tightness to her voice. "When I put it back--did I do something wrong?"

Regina looks between them--Killian doesn't miss the way her gaze pauses on their joined hands. _Villains don't get happy endings._

She lets out a breath, then stands, setting aside the book she'd had in her lap. "Let me see."

She raises a hand toward Killian's chest as she approaches, and Emma's hand tightens almost painfully on his own before letting go. "Tell her what you felt," Emma says, in a tone that brooks no argument.

"Heat," he says quietly, for at close range, the pain in Regina's eyes is unmistakable. He's seen its twin before, in the Enchanted Forest, when they'd been two outcast villains broken by lost love. To have to endure such loss twice is unthinkable to him.

"When?" Regina asks, an edge to her voice as she meets his gaze. _Don't go there, pirate_ , her eyes seem to say, and he gives her a nod of acquiescence.

"When Emma laid her hand over my heart," he says, and Regina's gaze sharpens. She glances at Emma, then back to him, and rests her own hand where Emma's had been.

He feels nothing out of the ordinary, even when Regina narrows her eyes and cocks her head in thought. Then she spins on her heel and walks back to the desk. "He's fine," she says, in clear dismissal.

Less demanding and more uncertain, Emma asks, "What'd I do?" and Regina stops, still facing away.

"Still the talented amateur," she says, somewhere between bitter and rueful, and turns back around. "You've protected his heart so it can't be taken again," she says, "like I did with Henry." She crosses her arms and stares at Emma. "Probably when you put it back, and, apparently, completely by accident."

Emma blinks at her, sending Killian a sidelong glance. "Henry never said anything about… side-effects."

"Because _I_ knew what I was doing." Regina tosses her head, then says, "As far as I can tell, there's nothing wrong. Some stray Savior magic, which is what happens when you do sloppy work, but the effects should diminish with time." She raises her eyebrows at Emma. "It reacted when you got up close and personal, I suspect."

Now Emma drops her chin, color seeping into her cheeks. "Got it." She looks back up at Regina, though. "Thank you."

"Thank me by leaving me in peace," Regina says, but less sharply than she might have, and they hasten to do so.

Once outside, he reaches for her, but she sidesteps him, hugging her arms around herself. "We--probably shouldn't touch each other until this wears off," she says. "I don't want to hurt you."

She looks small and miserable, two things his Swan should never be, and he catches her elbow with his hook, turning her toward him. "Don't be ridiculous, Swan," he says, easing himself closer and smiling gently at her.

"How is that ridiculous?" she asks, stubbornness in the set of her chin.

"First of all," he says, unfolding one of her hands and rubbing her palm with his thumb, "apparently you're so fond of me that you take measures to ensure my safety without even realizing it."

She scoffs and rolls her eyes, but makes no move either to deny it or to reclaim her hand, and Killian is becoming well versed in the language of Emma Swan. "And second of all?" she asks, with the hint of surliness she shows when he's changing her mind but she'll deny it to the heavens.

"My heart always races around you, love." He places her palm over his chest and covers it with his own, feeling the heat of her magic calling to itself just as he feels the warmth that she's brought into every corner of his life. "Why try to stop it now?"


End file.
